crores and 40 lakhs per year. But in 1957-58 budget only 13/14 crore rupees have been allotted. This reveals that road construction was not satisfactory last year. In respect of inland navigation and civil aviation the system has not been much improved last year.
SHARE MARKET
Indian share market in 1957 was the worst possible in its history. It was tough job for the private industries last year to collect long term loans from the share market. The main reason for this was the want of confi- dence of the investors on the share market. The share market began to fall gradually since 1956. In 1957 the fall became suddenly very speedy. The investors began to withdraw from the share market after losing crores of rupees. Then after disclosure of the forgery of the Mundhra group the investors became totally disappointed and panicky and as a result of this they are now not ready to invest their money any more. The small saving campaign too was not a success. Many of the investors are now inclined to gold market to avoid the loss of share market.
MONEY MARKET AND BANKING
In 1957 the amount of Indian currency and loans issued by banks has increased, whereas the amount of sterling balance of the Reserve Bank has decreased. This caused a rise in the price of all commodities. The foreign reserve of the Reserve Bank has become much less in 1957 than 1956. In 1957 the amount of currency has increased by about 110 crores. The number of scheduled banks has become 91. Due to the restrictions imposed by the Reserve Bank any big bank failure' has not occured last year and moreover 28 small banks did not get licence to carry on their business. Indian money market was very bad last year.
Now if we recapitulate the above points then we find that as the year 1857 was remarkable in the political field, likewise the year 1957 is also re- markable in the economic field of India.
